By Ben Antonius | Daily Republic | February 08, 2009
A new Mercedes Benz dealership scheduled for the Fairfield Auto Mall has been delayed again. Construction on the dealership may not start until 2010. Photo by Brad Zweerink
FAIRFIELD - For all the blows the Fairfield Auto Mall has sustained, there has always been a bright spot: Mercedes Benz is coming.
The planned Mercedes dealership has been imagined as a centerpiece to the area, a resplendent glass structure situated in a prime location near the freeway. That's still the plan. It's getting the facility built that's the problem.
The project, once slated to begin construction in 2008, has been delayed again. Owners will not break ground on the project in April as had been announced and may not do so until 2010.
'We are excited about the (Fairfield) market,' said George Grinzewitsch Jr., a development partner on the project. 'But obviously with everything that is going on in the economy, everyone stops to reflect and make sure what you're doing is the right thing.'
The company still plans to build a major, two-story dealership on an approximately 4-acre parcel of land along Auto Mall Parkway near the Abernathy Road-Interstate 80 interchange.
Regardless when the project commences, the developers would be entering the market at a time when new car sales have tumbled to their lowest point in decades.
However, Grinzewitsch said he was not overly concerned about the situation or the fate of two nearby dealerships that closed in late 2008. Faced with plummeting sales, Chrysler Kia Jeep and Lithia Dodge both closed.
'The closures within the auto mall do not factor in our decision because we feel we picked the best possible location for Mercedes Benz in Fairfield,' he said.
